Krieeek~
The door creaked open slowly.
The soft light from the hall cast a shadow across the room as the Duchess strode in.
Her golden eyes gleamed with a cold, calculated glint. Her long, dark hair cascaded down her back like a black waterfall.
The air seemed to freeze as the maids snapped to attention, trembling as they turned toward her, their faces pale.
"Is it done?"
Her voice was low but carried an unmistakable authority, as if she were used to having her orders followed without question.
Her gaze fixed on the baby—on Lucian, who was still sniffling and squirming in the hands of the maid holding him by the leg, though his back was toward her, not his face.
The maids exchanged nervous glances, not daring to speak.
One of them swallowed hard, stepping forward shakily. "Your Grace... we did as you commanded, but..."
"But what?" The Duchess's eyes narrowed, her tone sharp enough to cut glass.
Lucian, still dangling from one leg, had no clue what was being said.
The words coming from the Duchess and the maids were completely foreign to him, nothing more than strange sounds.
He couldn't make sense of their language, and it only heightened his confusion.
All he saw was the shadow of the woman, her presence commanding the entire room.
He felt like a tiny insect under her shadow, unable to comprehend what was happening but sensing something was very, very wrong.
The woman seemed to be instructing something to these people.
Without a word, she stepped forward, snatching Lucian from the maid's trembling hands.
Holding him up like he weighed nothing, she inspected him closely, her golden eyes scrutinizing every inch of his tiny body.
She turned his body toward her, but due to his small size and low angle, he was unable to see her face, only her abdomen.
"Still fat," she muttered, her voice filled with disdain.
Lucian's mind was reeling.
He couldn't understand the words, but the way she suddenly poked her finger on his belly made it clear—she wasn't pleased.
'Fat? Is she calling me fat? I'm a baby, you psycho!'
Considering he still had a bit of rationality after this bizarre dream in which he turned into a baby, he figured that if someone poked your belly more than a few times, it was basically their way of saying you are fat.
He wanted to scream at her, but all that came out was another garbled noise: "Goo...gaah..."
The Duchess's lip curled in irritation.
Her tone, though alien, carried an unmistakable edge.
Lucian could tell she wasn't happy.
She said something else to the maids, her eyes flicking toward them, and they shrank back.
It was obvious—whatever was happening, it wasn't good for him.
The maids mumbled something in return, but Lucian couldn't catch a single word.
It was like trying to decipher an alien language, and it only made him feel more helpless.
The Duchess sneered, and with a sudden, almost careless motion, lifted Lucian higher, holding him by his tiny leg.
His body dangled upside down like some captured rebel.
But as she lifted him up, her neck became visible first, followed by her chin, lips, nose, and finally her eyes.
'!?!'
Lucian's eyes widened. A fear struck his senses like a thunderbolt.
Right now he was seeing a face that was too familiar.
'No, no, no!!!!'
Those golden eyes, that black hair, even with a face that could rival all top models, given her beauty—he was shocked.
Maybe even soon going to be shocked to death.
'K-Kassidy Liander!?'
A lonely name reverberated inside his mind, striking him like hammers as he recognized the facial features he had just heard a few hours ago.
The face of one of the smartest women, known as the mother of the worst character named Lucian Liander.
But what caused him to feel like his blood was chilling even more was the reflection of himself, a tiny baby hanging upside down, seen in her clear golden eyes, appearing like a mirror.
Same golden eyes and faint black hair markings on his tiny, chubby body.
'It's a dream; it has to be!' His mind protested, trying to deny the reality.
He had become Lucian Liander.
He shut his eyes tightly to wake up from this nightmare.
But everything was too vivid.
The sensation of hanging upside down, feeling nauseous, with his eyes clearly seeing those golden pupils, which definitely weren't contact lenses.
Let alone his eyes, even the sensation near his leg under the pressure of her arm.
Her grip was firm, and though she didn't seem to be applying much force, Lucian could feel the strain in his tiny body, a sharp discomfort radiating through him.
Initially, he wanted to protest, to demand they stop treating him like a sack of potatoes.
But now, he just wanted to wake up from this hellish dream.
He tried to hold it in, but due to both mental and physical agony, he yelled, but all that came out was a series of high-pitched wails: "Waaaah!"
The Duchess barely seemed to notice.
She uttered something else, her tone dismissive.
Lucian didn't know what she said, but he didn't like the way the maids reacted—they looked scared.
One of the maids hesitated, speaking up in a soft, pleading tone.
Lucian didn't need to understand the language to know she was scared, though definitely less than he was.
But whatever the maid said, it didn't seem to matter.
The Duchess silenced her with a sharp look, and the maid quickly bowed her head.
Lucian, dangling helplessly, caught bits and pieces of their conversation, but it was all meaningless to him.
Whatever they were planning, he couldn't follow.
But one thing was clear: they were obsessed with something about him, something about his body.
And it couldn't be good.
As his mind raced, the Duchess finally seemed to grow bored of holding him.
With a casual flick of her wrist, she tossed him back to the nearest maid, who caught him awkwardly, struggling to hold his squirming, chubby body.
'Aghh! Fuck, wait? Was that mana?!'
Feeling the soft landing, he realized just now, as his body relaxed, that this woman seemed to have used mana.
This caring action confirmed to him that she wasn't going to kill him.
So for now, he needed to understand what she was trying to do with him.
He didn't know anything about this woman except how she played some major roles in volumes 2 and 3.
Lucian's character was already dead in volume 1, and according to those couples, Lucian, being a stepping stone, did not have details about his backstory.
But in short, very briefly, Lucian knew this much.
// Lucian, born with a terminal illness, had a terrible personality. As a child, he tried to get his mother's attention, but when he didn't receive it, he began to take it out on the maids. He then grew up as a bastard who met his end at the hands of a heroine after trying to assault her, until he was turned into an undead. //
However, every time those couples mentioned Kassidy Liander, they referred to her as a very smart woman.
And being frank, after observing all her actions, he could see that, let alone being smart, she had a trashy, dumb shit personality.
*Prepare it for the mana test before his useless father arrives.* The Duchess said something sharp as she turned on her heel, her long hair swishing behind her like a cape.
The maids froze, nodding quickly in response, and with that, the Duchess strode out of the room.
The door slammed shut behind her, leaving the maids standing in stunned silence, clutching the now-crying Lucian.
"Shh, shh, little one," one of them cooed awkwardly, but Lucian wasn't having any of it.
He was pissed.